Retirement Income Plan Tracker

A retirement income plan is a yearly timeline that displays to you where your retirement income will come from.  It is the best way to monitor your and manage your retirement finances.  It can be done easily in an Excel spreadsheet or other spreadsheet program that you are familiar with, or may be on a sheet of graphic paper.  Start making your retirement income plan with relevant information.  Start with one column for each year with your respective age and your spouse’s age recorded under each calendar year.  Then add rows for each income such as your social security showing the amount starting in the year or age you choose and continuing through out yearly and then another row for your spouse’s social security having the same data as yours.   Remember that in case of death, the surviving spouse keeps the larger of their own or their spouse’s social security, so if one spouse passed away, your retirement income timeline should account for this expected decrease in income upon the first death.  Next row is for your pensions showing the amount starting in the year and your age you plan to take it.  Use separate row for each pension income.  And if you or your spouse has annuity income having the guaranty minimum amount starting at a specific age, record it too. Record all other fixed and regular income so that you will be able to know how much you are earning regularly then add another row for your regular expenditures.